


In Which Cosette's Life Becomes Happier

by Slothrepublic



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Romance, Secret Relationship, friends - Freeform, jean valjean dosent rescue cosette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:46:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3388988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slothrepublic/pseuds/Slothrepublic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cosette and Éponine have secretly been friends since Cosette was left with the Thénardiers. Now both girls are older and their friendship is beginning to turn into something more. With her best friend Marius at her side what could go wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

In the French town of Montfermeil, there was a small inn run by Monsieur and Madame Thénardier. They had two daughters Éponine and Azelma. They had a loving mother and father who pampered them and gave them everything they could. But there was another little girl who hid under tables, in corners, and shadows; her name was Cosette. She has blonde hair that hung down a few inches above her waist and bright blue eyes. Cosette was not the Thénardiers’ daughter. She was the daughter of Fantine, who had left her to live with the Thénardiers so she could find work. They had seemed like nice and caring people in the beginning, but after living with them, Cosette knew they were horrible people. They made their living by fixing prices and stealing. The Thénardiers treated Cosette like a servant, dressing her in rags and having her do all the chores in the inn. Madame Thénardier had warned her daughters to keep away from Cosette, telling them that her mother was no good and isolating the little girl even more. Azelma listened to her mother, but Éponine would sneak away to see Cosette whenever she could.

And thus a friendship was born. Eponine and Cosette became the best of friends. Whenever Cosette had a moment free, Éponine would come to see her, even helping Cosette with her chores so they could play longer. Cosette and Éponine liked all the same things; they liked to play with their dolls and have pretend tea parties. The girls began to hold hands as well. Neither of them ever said anything about it or even acknowledged it. It just became something they did. Éponine's mother had taught her how to braid hair and she, in turn, taught Cosette. The girls would spend hours braiding and unbraiding each others hair while they made up entire worlds to play in.

The years went by and the girls grew older. Neither Monsieur or Madame Thérnadier had caught the girls talking to or even paying attention to each other. Now that they were sixteen, they were able to hide their friendship a lot easier. In front of her parents Éponine shunned Cosette and Cosette pretended not to care. But when they were alone, they were back to being best friends. One of their favorite places to talk was under the table in the corner. There they had spent much of their childhoods whispering secrets and jokes into each other's ears. The two crawled under and Cosette reached out her hand looking for Éponine's. Éponine reached out her own hand in response and the two girls intertwined their fingers. Éponine curled into Cosette’s side and buried her face into her shoulder. The two sat in a comfortable silence eventually falling asleep together. 

One day Monsieur and Madame Thérnadier had gone out to the market with Azelma. Cosette and Éponine were alone. Éponine raced up to the room she shared with Azelma and brought down a blue silk dress that Cosette had always admired. "Here, put this on," Éponine smiled at Cosette. The dress closely resembled one that Fantine, Cosette’s mother, had worn before she left Cosette with the Thérnadiers. Cosette gasped at the sight of the dress before holding out a shaking hand to run her fingers over the soft cloth. It had been years and years since she had worn anything nice and just the thought of wearing something this beautiful made her heart soar.

Cosette took the dress out of Éponine’s hands and quickly slipped her own ratty brown dress off, sliding the other one on. Éponine smiled, leading Cosette over to a mirror. She brushed Cosette’s hair out of her eyes and stepped out of the way to let Cosette see herself. Cosette’s hands flew up to her face, covering her mouth in shock at what she saw. The dress accented her collarbones and brought out her bright blue eyes. She glanced at Éponine. "Is this really me?" she asked. Éponine nodded and grabbed her hand.  
"Let's go to the park. You've never seen the duck pond, and the flowers are beautiful this time of year." And so the two girls left the inn their fingers intertwined and headed for the park their fingers intertwined.


	2. In which Éponine and Cosette visit the park and a mysterious man becomes a hero

The park was busy. There were kids running around, all laughing with huge smiles on their faces. Éponine and Cosette walked over to an empty bench near the pond. Cosette sat down while Éponine bent over to pick flowers. When she was done, she walked back to Cosette and handed them to her. As Cosette smelled the flowers, Éponine began to run her fingers through Cosette's golden hair.

The two watched as a pair of duck swam in slow circles. A young man was throwing bits of bread into the water as the ducks swam up to him. The man had dark hair and a sprinkling of freckles across his cheeks and nose. He smiled as the ducks snatched the bread crumbs out of the water. Éponine and Cosette watched the man feeding the ducks for a few minutes. The man stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. He walked over to where Cosette and Éponine had been sitting.  
"Hello there," he said with a smile that seemed to light up his entire face. Éponine and Cosette glanced at each other before turning their attention back to the man. “I saw you watching me.” He continued. “My name is Marius, by the way. I usually feed the ducks around noon.” And with that, Marius winked turned on his heel and left.

Cosette and Éponine sat together for what seemed like hours. As the sun began to set Cosette turned to Éponine, earning a questing look from her. Cosette closed her eyes and leaned in, only to be met by Éponine's lips in return. Cosette smiled into the kiss and after a few moments both girls pulled away. Cosette was smiling and blushing nervously; Éponine held her fingers to her own lips concealing her own smile. Éponine grabbed Cosette’s hand and the girls walked home in silence, both too happy to even speak.

When they got back to the inn, both girls reluctantly let go of each other's hands before entering. Madame Thénardier walked over to Éponine, greeting her and asking her how her day had been. Cosette was ignored. Cosette picked up the broom from the corner and began to sweep the main floor. She stopped abruptly as she heard Madame Thénardier’s shrill voice snap at her.  
"Lazy girl! We're out of water, go to the well and fetch some." So Cosette put her broom away and grabbed the bucket, beginning the long walk to the well.

The well had always scared Cosette, especially at night. The well was in the middle of a forest on the edge of town; only horrible people like thieves hung out in there. Cosette reached the well and tied the bucket to the rope hanging there. When the bucket was filled, Cosette began to turn the crank to raise the bucket. Once it was about half way up the rope snapped and the bucket fell. At the loss of the bucket Cosette sat down and began to cry. After about fifteen minutes she heard twigs snapping and the sound of someone walking. She looked up and saw the boy from the park carrying his own bucket. He smiled and began to jog when he saw Cosette. But when he saw her puffy eyes and tears on her cheeks he faltered. 

"Hey, hey, hey... don't cry. What's wrong?" he asked. Cosette just motioned to the well with her hand and Marius looked down into the well. Seeing the bucket lying in the bottom, he threw a leg over the side of the well, grabbed the rope, and slid down. Cosette stood and watched as Marius picked up the bucket and began to climb back out of the well. She grabbed the bucket out of Marius's hand and helped him back out the well. Standing on her tiptoes Cosette threw her arms around around Marius's neck, thanking him over and over again. Marius hugged back and after a few moments the pair separated. Marius picked up his own bucket and proceeded to fill it with water. He picked up Cosette’s off the ground. "Where do you live?" He asked her.

"At the inn. I can show you," Cosette responded. So the pair walked to the inn together. When they arrived, Cosette took the bucket from Marius and thanked him again for all the help. Marius laughed and asked I he would be seeing her and her friend at the park again any time soon. Cosette promised him that they would visit soon. And with that Marius turned on his heel and left. Cosette smiled after him and opened the door to the inn, walking into the warm light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks to serenier for proof reading this for me!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think in the comments


End file.
